Lions and Wolverines unbeaten through September for first time?
Some friends and I were curious about the last time the Lions and Michigan had gone this far into their respective seasons undefeated. The Lions haven't gone 4-0 since 1980. I emailed Greg Dooley (MVictors) this morning and asked what he thought. His response was that he doesn't think it's ever happened, and the closest he could think of was in 1970 when the Lions went 3-0 and Michigan was 9-0.
Just thought this was an interesting bit of information to share. Here's to a couple excellent seasons for both teams, and Go Blue!
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:04 AM ^
Someone on Rivals said it last happened in 1939.
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:09 AM ^
I didn't know the Lions were even in Detroit in 1939. Looking in Wikipdedia, though, it says they moved from Portsmouth to Detroit in 1934. Either way, it has been a long time.
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^
hopefully we can keep this trend going!
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:49 AM ^
1970, looks like.
Lions:
Week 1 | Sep 20 | W | 40-0 | at Green Bay Packers | |
Week 2 | Sep 27 | W | 38-3 | vs Cincinnati Bengals |
M
Arizona | 8/- | 09/19 | H | W | 20-9 | 80,386 |
Washington | 10/- | 09/26 | A | W | 17-3 | 57,500 |
Or, if you accept unbeaten and untied, it's 1975. M had two very ugly - I was there - ties in September.
Lions '75
Week 1 | Sep 21 | W | 30-16 | at Green Bay Packers at Milwaukee, WI | |
Week 2 | Sep 28 | W | 17-14 |
M
Wisconsin | 2/- | 09/13 | A | W | 23-6 | 79,022 |
Stanford | 2/- | 09/20 | H | T | 19-19 | 92,304 |
Baylor | 9/- | 09/27 | H | T | 14-14 | 104,248 |
Michigan didn't even play in September in 1939. In fact September games were rare or non-existent until the 50's for either team. Football didn't really start until after baseball.
You can double check the Lions here: http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/teams.nsf/histories/lions/
And the Blue here: http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/misc/fbrecord.htm
I could be wrong after all. Eyes are getting old.
October 3rd, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^
The Lions did start 3-0 in 1970, but they lost their fourth game 31-10 to Washington.
1939 does look correct
October 3rd, 2011 at 12:37 PM ^
Depends on what question OP's asking? September? Or something else?
Either way, a looooooong time.